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Source publication
We conducted a cross-sectional study to provide an overview primary school children food environment in two urban settings in Kenya. Six schools, catering to children from low-, medium- and high-income households in the cities of Nairobi and Kisumu in Kenya, participated in the study. Data on types of food places and foods offered were collected an...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... names (English, Kiswahili and local language) of listed foods were discussed and recorded, and adapted food lists pretested and updated prior to being used for data collection. Please see Tables A2 and A3. Observations were conducted between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm during the weekdays and were conducted in June 2019 with observations conducted in a total of 364 food retail outlets and 144 prepared food sources for a total of 508 food places. ...Similar publications
Background: The public health burden and prevalence of intestinal helminths in Nigeria are increasing, with 45% of school age children being infected annually.
Citations
... Furthermore, advertisements for these products were located outside the establishments, where children would be most exposed [6]. In Kenya, a high presence of street vendors has been noted in the vicinity of schools, offering a variety of unhealthy foods [7]. Similar results were identified in India, where unhealthy foods were widely available within and in educational institutions [8]. ...
Background
Regulatory measures regarding food in the school environment aim to promote a healthier food environment in public and private schools. In Brazil, implementing regulations in the school food environment does not occur the same way across states and cities, and no national regulation covers public and private schools. The present study aims to analyze regulatory measures for school food environments in Brazilian states and cities and develop a score to evaluate them.
Methods
A systematic search of the regulatory measures in force and implemented until 2021 was conducted. The score was developed based on the Model Law Project prepared by the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection. It considered food and nutrition education actions, restrictions on the sale and distribution of food, a ban or restriction on food advertising and marketing, and points of excellence. These points included regulations that addressed the importance of supervision and social control, laws regulated by decree, the mention of a ban on ultra-processed foods, and whether the regulatory measures covered public and private schools.
Results
Sixty-five cities and states regulatory measures in force were found to be evaluated jointly by a federal entity (n = 43). Among the federal entities evaluated, only 13.95% fulfilled the function of promoting sustainable and healthy eating (8–12 points).
Conclusions
Brazilian children and adolescents are exposed to a school food environment with regulations that partially fulfill the function of promoting an adequate, healthy, and sustainable diet. In this sense, it is necessary to improve regulatory measures or to encourage states and cities to develop effective legal provisions that are in line with the food guide for the Brazilian population and with the perspective of a healthy school food environment for the effective promotion of adequate, healthy and sustainable and healthy food in schools.
Objective:
We examined the prevalence of elevated blood pressure (BP) and hypertension among 390 primary school children of different socioeconomic status (SES) in two urban settings in Kenya and explored the association between children's BP status and their sociodemographic characteristics, dietary behaviours and overweight/obesity status.
Methods:
Children's BP and anthropometric measurements were taken and parents, with the help of their children, completed questionnaires on the children's dietary behaviours. An average of three BP readings was used to calculate BP percentiles by age, sex and height. BMI-for-age z-scores, waist-circumference-to-height ratio and the sum of skinfold measures were calculated. We utilized prevalence ratio analysis to examine the association between BP and sociodemographic characteristics, dietary behaviours and overweight/obesity.
Results:
About 9% of the school children had elevated BP and 33% had stage 1 hypertension. Among overweight children, the proportion of children with elevated BP was 1.85-fold greater and the proportion of children with hypertension was 1.83-fold greater compared with children with healthy body weight. Similar patterns of significant associations were seen among obese children, children with central obesity and children with high total skinfold values. The proportion of children with hypertension was 1.42-fold greater among children with high frequency of consumption of chips/crisps compared with children with lower frequency of consumption.
Conclusion:
These results increase our understanding BP patterns and determinants among school children in Kenya and can help inform noncommunicable disease prevention efforts.
